Samsung HL-T5087S DLP Rear Projection TV with LED Backlight

Samsung‘s HL-T5087S DLP rear projection TV (RPTV) is the very first to incorporate red, green and blue (RGB) LEDs as a light source. Samsung calls it the Cinema Pure LED Color Engine. Typical RPTVs use Ultra High Performance (UHP) lamps that generate a bright white light. And with an UHP light source comes the need for a color wheel to actually generate the colors. The Cinema Pure LED Color Engine has a light source that is capable of generating red, green and blue colors already and thus does not require a color wheel, which can be the source of some irritating artifacts such as the rainbow effect that some are able to see.

Another advantage of LED is its lifetime: 60,000 hours until half-brightness. This is much much more than the lifetime of an UHP that’s normally rated at just about 3,000 hours. Recently, consumers have been replacing TVs more frequently, but the last TV we had was a Zenith and that was with the family for over 20 years. That’s probably not going to happen with our latest 32″ Toshiba LCD TV, but there is the potential for TVs to outlast 60,000 hours. A RPTV with an UHP bulb, you simply pay the $200 to $300 and replace it; and viola! you get a brand new TV. What do you do with a LED lit RPTV? Well, you’ll just need to suffer through the dim screen until you can’t stand it anymore and get a new one. I actually prefer that I am able to spend just $300 and get a new TV.

The HL-T5087S has a very unique feature: it plays well with the $200 3D DLP Starter Pack from DDD via the HL-T5087S’ 3D sync port that hooks up with the infrared emitter cable. You’ll need to wear a pair of geeky 3D glasses, which uses a stereoscopic 3D system that shoots information to your left and right eye alternately, tricking you into seeing 3D. Oh, and you’ll need a pretty capable PC to hook up with the DDD system to watch 3D.